(NaturalNews) New York City has a big problem with homelessness. As the number of homeless people in the Big Apple has steadily increased in recent years, so have incidences of violence carried out by desperate, often mentally ill people who are living on the city's streets.

A recent spike in violent incidents involving homeless people has stirred a major controversy among residents and authorities. This controversy has been fueled by sensationalist news outlets and those who wish to point the finger of blame at various institutions and individuals, which has turned the issue into a political hot potato.

Two recent incidents that gained national attention in the media involved violent attacks by homeless New Yorkers on innocent passersby. The target of one of the unprovoked attacks was a Chinese tourist who was beaten in the face by a two-by-four wielding homeless man as he was leaving his midtown Manhattan hotel. The victim's nose was broken in the attack.

The other incident involved a 72-year-old architect who was stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors by a homeless woman as he was walking along W. 14th Street near 7th Avenue.

The two somewhat similar attacks, which occurred within a few days of each other, sparked a call to action on the part of authorities to begin seriously addressing a situation New Yorkers have been witnessing for some time now - namely, the growing ranks of homeless people in the city and all the attendant problems associated with them, including an increase in violent incidents and aggressive panhandling techniques.

The numbers tell a story

The statistics are clear. A report by the Coalition for the Homeless states:

New York City's homeless population continued to rise last year, with the number of homeless people sleeping each night in municipal shelters exceeding 60,000 people, including 25,000 children, for the first time ever. And during the last City fiscal year, an all-time-record 116,000 different New Yorkers, including 42,000 different children, slept at least one night in the New York City shelter system.

One out of every 43 children living in New York City has spent at least one night in a homeless shelter. This figure is 1 in 17 for African-American children and 1 in 34 for Latino children, compared to 1 in 368 for white children.

Many of the adults living on the street have mental health issues, which has been a major factor in the proliferation of violent incidents.

As Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local politicians scramble to find solutions, the rest of the populace is beginning to realize that the policies of the current "leadership" in Washington have been a complete disaster.

The failure of progressivist policies

Our economy is in shambles and our traditional social and family values have deteriorated to the point where there is little hope for those trapped in poverty, particularly those who are mentally ill. In New York and elsewhere, there is a shortage of jobs, affordable housing and resources for those who have fallen between the cracks.

The fake economic recovery and the scarcity of real jobs continues to take its toll, no matter how they try to cook the books to make things appear otherwise. The employment rate figures are a lie, and as we veer towards an even bigger and inevitable economic crisis, we can expect the ranks of desperate and sometimes violent homeless people to increase.

It has been said that a nation can be judged by the way it treats its weakest members. If the way America treats its poor, its mentally ill, its war veterans and its children are any indication, we as a nation are in a state of steep decline.

Our leaders have failed us, and the shameful evidence is now appearing in our cities' streets and homeless shelters.

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